Bombardier cuts Q3 loss, says turnaround is on track
by The Canadian Press
Montreal-based Bombardier reported a net loss of $94 million for the three months ended Sept. 30, down from a year-earlier loss of nearly $4.9 billion
MONTREAL—Bombardier Inc. says it has made progress on its turnaround plan and its third-quarter loss has dropped significantly from the same time last year, when it recorded billion of dollars of writedowns on two key aircraft programs.
The Montreal-based company, which reports in U.S. currency, said it had a net loss of $94 million or four cents per share for the three months ended Sept. 30.
That’s down from a year-earlier loss of nearly $4.9 billion or $2.20 per share, when Bombardier wrote down the value of its troubled CSeries commercial jet program and one of its Learjet business jet programs.
“We continue to gain momentum as we execute our turnaround plan and transform our company,” said Alain Bellemare, Bombardier’s president and chief executive officer since he joined the company in early 2015.
Since then, the Quebec government has invested US$1 billion to acquire a 49.5 per cent stake in the delayed and overbudget CSeries aircraft program. Commercial deliveries of the CSeries have begun but deliveries are behind the original schedule.
Bombardier’s revenue was $1.31 billion, down 16 per cent from $1.56 billion in the third quarter of 2016, following a planned reduction in business aircraft sales and the deferred recognition of some revenue in its rail division.
Bombardier has also previously announced that it will deliver only seven CSeries commercial jets this year, down from the previous estimate of 15, as a result of delayed engine deliveries from Pratt & Whitney.
“In the third quarter, we again delivered on our financial commitments, we achieved our program milestones and we continued to take the hard actions necessary to improve productivity, reduce costs and optimize our operations,” Bellemare said in his statement.
Three weeks ago, Bombardier announced plans to eliminate 7,500 positions _ more than 10 per cent of its global workforce _ by the end of 2018. That was the second mass round of layoffs in less than a year. It announced in February a plan to cut 7,000 positions by the end of 2017.
Bellemare said during the Oct. 21 announcement that the second round of job losses would be partially offset by more than 3,700 new hires as it ramps up production of the CSeries plane, the new Global 7000 business aircraft, and transit rail cars.
Bombardier said Thursday that its adjusted loss for the third quarter was $10 million or less than a cent per share for the third quarter of 2016. Analysts had estimated an adjusted loss of three cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters.
